Cardiologists and cardiovascular staff at Sanford USD Medical Center in Sioux Falls, S.D., pride themselves for providing the best care in the area. But it took the process associated with gaining Chest Pain Center accreditation for them to realize just how good they are.

Is it February already? It seems like only yesterday that hospital executives and cardiovascular professionals were bracing for the dramatic reimbursement cuts scheduled for 2010. Its still early to gauge their effects, but word on the street is that everyone is pretty much still in shock.

Cardiology practices have always faced distinctive coding and billing challenges. Today, rapidly declining reimbursement makes it imperative for practices to collect every legitimate charge, requiring the assistance health IT solutions.

The European PACS market will grow by about 5.9 percent annually through 2015, according to a report published by GlobalData, a market research firm.

Many more people could survive out-of-hospital cardiac arrest if regional systems of cardiac resuscitation care were established, according to an American Heart Association (AHA) policy statement published Jan. 14 in Circulation.

Weatherford Regional Hospital in Weatherford, Okla., and Seminole Medical Center in Seminole, Okla., are the recent recipients of NovaPACS installations from RIS/PACS provider NovaRad.

Columbia University Medical Center in New York City and Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, Fla., are partnering to improve the quality of cardiac care for South Florida.

Cardinal Health has introduced the ConnectSystem, an inventory management solution that uses electronic tools to order and regulate lab supplies.